US tariffs put Japan's auto industry under strain

TOKYO: Japan's top automakers are reeling under the weight of U.S. tariffs, with financial results for the first half of fiscal 2025 revealing a collective profit decline and rising structural pressure across the industry.

AI Brief

Japan's top carmakers suffered US$9.7B losses from US tariffs, with Toyota posting its first North America operating loss since 2008.
Companies kept US prices steady to protect market share, eroding margins as costs surged despite tariffs later dropping to 15%.
Auto exports to the US fell 22.7%, raising fears of slower R&D and a drag on Japan's fragile economic recovery.

According to the Nikkei, Japan's seven leading manufacturers -- Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi Motors, Subaru, and Suzuki -- suffered an estimated combined loss of 1.5 trillion yen (about 9.7 billion U.S. dollars) for the April-September period due to the U.S. tariffs, which took effect in April.

The impact has been severe. Nissan, Mazda, and Mitsubishi Motors all posted net losses for the period, while Toyota, the world's largest automaker, saw operating profit plunge 18.6 percent despite higher revenue, marking its first operating loss in North America since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Honda's net profit fell 37 percent year-on-year, and Subaru's dropped 45 percent, underscoring how deeply the tariff shock has cut into margins across the board.

Many companies chose not to raise prices in the United States to protect market share, a move that shielded short-term sales but eroded profitability as production and logistics costs surged.

Toyota Chief Financial Officer Kenta Kon recently acknowledged that although the United States has since lowered the tariff on Japanese vehicles to 15 percent, the situation remains extremely challenging.

Analysts warn that Japan's automakers face a double burden -- paying higher tariffs while also being encouraged to expand U.S. investment under bilateral trade commitments.

Such obligations, they say, risk draining resources away from domestic R&D and weakening the broader industrial base.

The consequences extend far beyond corporate balance sheets. In 2024, Japan's automobile exports to the United States made up 28.3 percent of Japan's total exports to the country.

According to data from the Ministry of Finance, exports to the United States between April and September declined 10.2 percent from a year earlier to 9.7115 trillion yen.

Automobile exports tumbled 22.7 percent to 2.3890 trillion yen during the period, with export volumes decreasing 2.4 percent to 662,914 vehicles.

As profits contract and capital spending slows, the ripple effect could drag on Japan's already fragile economic recovery, analysts warn.